The 9:01: Mud Island’s future, ‘Memphis Massacre’ in the moment and more

May 13, 2016 - Dorian Pointer celebrates his seventh birthday with his father and swan ride at Mud Island River Park. Bass Pro Shops have asked the city to slow down their plans to redevelop the park. (Nikki Boertman/The Commercial Appeal)(Photo: Nikki Boertman)

Good morning in Memphis, where Nashville is closing in and Global Ministries is on blast, but first …

Remember Bud Boogie Beach.

OK, so it’s not exactly ‘Remember the Alamo,’ but it does serve as a reminder of previous defeats on Mud Island, the public park/attraction at the city’s doorstep, which has struggled since soon after its 1982 opening.

(Did developers Sidney Shlenker and John Tigrett once propose a prehistoric music theme park named “Rocktopolous” or did I just dream this?) [UPDATE: It was 'Rakapolis' and it was a real idea.]

Mud Island has been in a holding pattern for a while now, and seemed ready for renewed attention this year, as redevelopment proposals had recently been narrowed down to two contenders, local RVC Outdoors, an outdoor amenities company headed by Memphis developer Andy Cates, who has proposed a holistic approach to reviving the space based on engaging the river, and Mansion Entertainment, a Branson, Missouri company with eyes primarily on the Mud Island Amphitheatre.

But now, according to a story we published last Friday, Bass Pro is suggesting the city tap the brakes on Mud Island redevelopment with a “slow, methodical approach,” an intrusion that Cates suggests is stalling the process. There’s some apprehension that Bass Pro has designs on a thematic extension of what they’ve done with the Bass Pro Pyramid, though multiple people privy to Mayor Jim Strickland’s meeting with Bass Pro officials say that no specific ideas for Mud Island development were mentioned.

Given the competing proposals of RVC Outdoors and Mansion Entertainment and the phantom menace of a Bass Pro-programmed theme park of some sort, I’m greatly sympathetic to Cates’ vision (you can see the entire 54-page PDF of RVC’s proposal here) for at least four reasons:

Honor the River: What’s the highest and greatest land use for Mud Island? The site’s past failures might suggest a massive re-think, but I still agree with Cates that it should be a better version of what it is: A river park, rather than just an attraction that happens to be on the river. Mud Island’s current status is arguably a failure of execution more than of concept. (Incidentally, the Cates proposal suggests a name change should be considered.)

The Mississippi River defines us. It’s why Memphis exists and is one of the country’s signature natural elements. But it’s something that we probably don’t engage enough or leverage enough. (When I wrote last week of Memphis places I’d never been, one reader responded, “How many Memphians have ever been on the Mississippi River?”)

Maybe the times are catching up with Mud Island, with the shift toward more active and outdoor entertainment options. Cates’ notions of ecological tourism and river engagement is not only responsive to societal shifts, but is complementary with Bass Pro to the north, the rising (and soon-to-be-lit) Harahan Bridge project to the south, with river travelers at Beale Street Landing and with the Mississippi River Greenbelt Park, to which Cates suggests enhanced connections, allowing people to walk or bike the entire length of the island.

Speaking of Harahan: Modernizing Mud Island’s amphitheatre as a concert/event space is a given, but the current site’s most underappreciated, underexploited asset is probably the pedestrian bridge that connects the island to Front Street. Even now, this is a spot for exercise and reflection for Downtown workers on a lunch break, with near 360 degree views of Downtown and the river and more of a breeze than down on the ground. (Access is free. Check it out.)

Cates’ plan would ditch the out-of-date monorail (relocating the main park entrance to the north) but would enhance the “SkyBridge” with a nod toward New York’s popular High Line park, built on an elevated rail line. Taking cues from the Shelby Farms Greenline and coming Harahan Project, this is a connector that is also a destination, and could become much more of one.

Keep it Local: Whatever happens on Mud Island, better to have its future in the hands of someone who would regard it as part civic mission rather than purely a business venture. Cates specifically has been involved in Soulsville, the Memphis Grizzlies and the Shelby Farms Greenline, three of the best new things in Memphis over the past couple of decades, and his RVC Outdoors is headquartered in the Pinch.

The RVC proposal cites “Authentic/Local/Memphis” as guiding principles — a likely stark contrast to what the aesthetics of Bass Pro or Branson would do with the space — and emphasizes bringing local food and drink options into the park and collaborating with other local attractions.

One of the proposal’s stated goals is to “prioritize local residents repeat visitation and tourists will follow,” and that seems like exactly the right approach (for lots of things, not just Mud Island). Build something appealing for Memphians, and it will also be of value for visitors. This will prove more durable than a shiny attraction geared entirely toward tourists.

The proposal to form a conservancy to govern the park would further align it with Shelby Farms to the east and Overton Park at the city’s center as a pillars of Memphis outdoors culture.

Leverage Investment: The mayor’s statement on Mud Island suggests no public money available, including the modest annual amount that’s been going there already, with little to show for it. But if that continuing amount would help leverage a significantly higher degree of private and charitable investment (the RVC proposal suggests $10 million initially), then that seems like a wise thing to do. Certainly the ratios of private to public investment being proposed here are much more favorable than with Bass Pro or many other recent endeavors.

A recent weekday visit reveals a more compelling space than most Memphians would probably imagine, but also plenty of neglect and deterioration: The rusted latticework that once topped the Memphis Belle, broken concrete slabs, overgrown corners, barely functioning interior spaces, etc. (Pro tip: There are wild blackberries growing along the river bank at the Northern edge of the park if you want a quick, cheap snack.)

Rubio Blasts GMF: Florida Senator and recent Presidential candidate Marco Rubio is back to his day job, and blasted Global Ministries, whose problems at Memphis subsidized housing units at the Warren and Tulane apartments have been chronicled by The CA over the past year, from the Senate floor yesterday. Rubio references the Memphis problem at the 2:45 mark.

Distinction Without a Difference?: This is probably a Subject for Further Research here, perhaps for tomorrow, but I’ll confess to being rather nonplussed about the news that Nashville is on the verge of passing Memphis in city population. If having a larger city population than Nashville is a point of pride, and I’m not so sure about that, it seems a rather shallow one. I know city populations matter for taxing purposes, but in terms of identifying the size of a place, it’s rather arbitrary. Metro population seems more meaningful, and Nashville is significantly larger than Memphis by that measure, as the story notes, and has been that way. We know Memphis growth has been stagnant; it’s an ever-present concern. We also know Nashville has been booming, because they’re are always reminding us: It’s hard to read anything out of Nashville about the city that doesn’t refer to itself as an “It City.”

Looking Back at the ‘Memphis Massacre’: David Waters talks to University of Memphis history professors Beverly Bond and Susan O’Donovan about the story of the 1866 “Memphis Massacre” ahead of the University’s symposium on the subject tomorrow and Friday. There’s been a lot of recent discussion about how these events were distorted in local reportage at the time and subsequently buried in the historical record, but there are exceptions.

The row which followed was taken up by the citizens at large, and when renewed in the afternoon, after a short pause, it took the form of a general massacre of such of the colored population as showed themselves in the streets. This part of the tragedy appears to have been inconceivably brutal, but its brutality was, after all, not the most remarkable thing about it. Its most novel and most striking incident was, that the police headed the butchery, and roved round the town either in company with the white mob or singly, and occupied themselves in shooting down every colored person, of whatever sex, of whom they got a glimpse.

What was peculiar about the Memphis riot was that the officers of the law, the very persons on whom the colored population will have to rely for protection as soon as the troops are withdrawn, took a leading part in it, and we now have very little doubt that, were any similar outburst of popular prejudice to take place tomorrow in any other town in the South, the local police, if they interfered at all, would interfere in the same way.

Governor Bill Haslam questions the call of legal action or a special legislative session on the transgender bathroom issue.

The Fadeout: Earlier this week, I spun a song from the Beach Boys’ 1966 classic “Pet Sounds.” But that’s not the only classic album celebrating its 50th birthday this week. There’s also Bob Dylan’s “Blonde on Blonde.” So here’s my favorite song from that record, “Visions of Johanna”:

The 9:01 is a daily look at life in Memphis, with ideas, commentary, links, events and more. It is published every weekday at 9:01 a.m. Sign up to have it delivered to your inbox every morning.

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